Panama — In Search of the Harpy
Panama is one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet, a narrow land bridge between two continents that acts as a funnel for life. With over 1,000 recorded bird species, it has one of the highest avian diversities per square kilometre in the world. During ten days in the rainforest I encountered an overwhelming variety of species: hummingbirds, toucans, ospreys, kingfishers, and countless songbirds filling the canopy with sound at every hour of the day.
But there was one reason I had come.
The Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja) is the largest and most powerful eagle in the Americas. Females can reach a body length of up to 107 cm, a wingspan of nearly 220 cm, and a weight of up to 9 kg. Their talons alone measure up to 13 cm, comparable in size to the claws of a grizzly bear. Panama is one of the last strongholds where a patient photographer still has a realistic chance of finding one.
We located a female perched almost 25 metres up in the crown of an emergent tree. For ten hours we waited. She barely moved. And yet just being in her presence felt significant. These moments do not always produce the perfect shot. Sometimes they produce something better: the memory of stillness, height, and wildness.
The Harpy Eagle carries deep cultural meaning far beyond photography. The national bird of Panama, it was revered by the Aztecs as a symbol of power and the warrior spirit. The Maya associated it with the sky realm and divine authority. For the indigenous peoples of Panama, including the Emberá and the Guna, it is a sacred animal, a bridge between the human world and the forest.
Seeing one, even briefly, feels like a rare privilege. A reminder of what we stand to lose.
